ALBANY, N.Y. - Sophomore Jayde Boyd and freshman Grace Centrulla each netted 18 points and combined for 11 rebounds as the Mercyhurst women's basketball team completed a two-game sweep of the College of Saint Rose going wire-to-wire for a 75-52 triumph on Wednesday afternoon at the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium.  

The Lakers began the game fast as Julia Buchman delivered from downtown and Nicolette Arnold along with Centrulla hit jumpers to make it 7-0 with 3:54 gone.  Mercyhurst built their lead up by one outscoring the Knights 7-6 the rest of the period to take a 14-6 edge after one.  Brittini Martin, Boyd and Centrulla accounted for the offense during that stretch.  

Mercyhurst scored the first five points of the second thanks to a triple by Meghan Komendarek and bucket from Arnold pushed the margin to 19-6 within the first minute.  A pair of Becca Townes foul shots stunted the run for a moment, before Boyd and Centrulla picked up six straight making it 25-8 at the halfway mark.  The visitors maintained that margin, until a three-ball from Boyd bumped the lead to 32-12 with 1:55 left.  St. Rose closed on a 7-2 charge with Nina Fedullo accounting for four points to have it within 34-19 at halftime.

The home side used the opening two minutes of the third to continue to chip away at the deficit as Jenissa Encarnacion cut the margin to 38-25.  Komendarek kick-started the Lakers offense again with two at the line leading to a 7-0 spurt with Buchman and Centrulla contributing as well making it 45-25.  Ryley Blaseetti and Kaileigh Hunt netted the next four points, before Arnold, Boyd along with Centurlla responded with seven consecutive pushing the margin to 52-29.  Centrulla would give the guests their largest lead of the game to that point with a jumper with 63-seconds remaining to lead 54-30 through three.

Mercyhurst pushed the advantage to 25 three times within the opening three minutes on buckets from Arnold (57-32), Komendarek (59-34) and Boyd (61-36).  The Knights put together a 6-1 charge to close within 20 at 62-42 with 3:30 to play in the game.  Boyd continued to add to her strong afternoon by netting the ensuing five visitors points making it 67-44 at the 7:29 mark.  The rest of the game for the Lakers became the Jillian Spano as she scored their final eight points to secure the 75-52 win.

Team Stat Pack
Field Goal % - Hurst, 51.9% (27-52) / STR, 31.6% (18-57)
Three Point % - Hurst, 44.4% (8-18) / STR, 5.9% (1-17)
Foul Shooting % - Hurst, 86.7% (13-15) / STR, 65.2% (15-23)
Rebounds - Hurst, 36 / STR, 31
Points in Paint - Hurst, 38 / STR, 26 
Bench Points - Hurst, 29 / STR, 14
Turnovers - Hurst, 15 / STR, 12
Blocks - Hurst, 2 / STR, 1

Mercyhurst Individual Stats
Points - Boyd and Centrulla (18), Arnold (12), Komendarek (10)
Rebounds - Komendarek (8), Boyd (7)
Assists - Boyd and Shopene (4), Woodford (3)
Blocks - Centrulla (2)

Saint Rose Individual Stats
Points - Fedullo (18), Blasetti (11)
Rebounds - Hunt (7), Fedullo (6)

On Deck
The Lakers will head to Clarion on Tuesday night at 5:30pm.